MCC has today announced the election of Paul Collingwood as an Honorary Life Member.

The Club has bestowed this honour in recognition of his outstanding achievements in cricket.

Collingwood, who rang the five-minute bell at Lord’s on day three of England’s Specsavers Test Match with Ireland, played 197 One-Day Internationals for his country, scoring over 5,000 runs and taking over 100 wickets.His haul of 6 for 31 against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge in 2005 remains the best figures by an England bowler in ODI cricket.

Named one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year in 2007, he scored over 4,000 runs in 68 Tests, including a famous Ashes double-century in Adelaide.

He made the famous Lord's Honours Boards on two occasions. First in 2006 when he scored 186 against Pakistan, and then again the following year in 2007 with his 111 versus the West Indies.

Until the recent ICC Cricket World Cup triumph, he was the only man to have led England to a global tournament victory when they won the ICC World T20.

A one-team man, he played for Durham, the county of his birth, between 1995 and his retirement last year and is now part of the England coaching set-up.

"I always wanted to be an Honorary Life Member of MCC"

Collingwood said, “It’s a really good feeling. There were two things that I wanted to do in life; get on the Honours Board at Lord’s, which I managed to do a couple of times, and I always wanted to be an Honorary Life Member of MCC.“To actually have the book in my hand and to become a Life Member is great.”